Apple has blocked Spotify’s latest update

PanARMENIAN.Net - Sometimes, jealousy can make us do crazy things. Well, it's apparently the same for tech giants, with Apple coming under fire for allegedly blocking Spotify's latest update to its iOS app, Digital Spy said.

As Digital Spy said citig a Recode report, Spotify's general counsel Horacio Gutierrez sent a letter to Apple's legal team claiming the company is "causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers" by not allowing the latest version of the app to reach iPhone users. Apple apparently blocked the update due to 'business model rules'.

Gutierrez considers the move anti-competitive, and used his letter to suggest that Apple was using its approval process to hurt competitors of Apple Music: "This latest episode raises serious concerns under both US and EU competition law.

"It continues a troubling pattern of behaviour by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple's previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify … we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors."

Apple's reason for rejecting the update likely came from a promotion in which new subscribers could sign up to Spotify for $0.99 if they did so through the streaming service's website.

According to Recode, Spotify was attempting to promote the campaign inside the iOS app when Apple threatened to remove the app from its store.